Hi there! Today I’m sharing an excerpt and giveaway for a newly released contemporary romance out now from bestselling author Cathy Yardley. LOVE, COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE pairs two YouTube darlings who were frenemies in high school, but grew up well! 

Scroll down for the excerpt and review.

About the book:

Back in high school, Lily Wang wanted to be popular, but she considered herself lucky to be part of a tight group of oddballs and honors students called the Nerd Herd. Now, at twenty-eight, she feels like she’s finally on the cusp of succeeding as a beauty influencer—if she can hit five million subscribers, brands will take notice and she could get her own makeup line.

Fellow Nerd Herd alum Tobin Bui has had a lot of success as a YouTube gamer. But the road to online stardom has been rocky. First, he disappointed his parents by dropping out of college, and now, after years of pranks, skits, and playthroughs, he’s struggling to come up with new content to satisfy his ever-growing fan base. His agents say he needs cross-audience appeal, a new twist.

When Nerd Herd frenemy Lily approaches Tobin about teaming up to do a video to bolster her brand and reinvigorate his, he agrees. But when their first collab video goes viral, their relationship heats up too. With the whole internet watching, will these two former misfits finally realize they’re perfect together?

 

My Review:

Lily Wang always wanted to be a popular girl, but alas, those folks never wanted to invite her into that circle–they mostly snubbed her. And, it stung. She may have had good friends in the “Nerd Herd,” graduated high in her class, and gotten a degree in business economics from UCLA, but she never did get over it. Being pretty and petite has been her brand as a beauty YouTuber for several years now, and she’s living on the ad revenue. She has just under four million subscribers and a well-defined strategy, but if she wants to crack the next level–getting makeup companies to release palettes in her brand–she’ll need to up her game from the sedate, and professional, shows she’s known for. 

Tobin Bui was a class clown, but a fellow member of the Nerd Herd back in Ponto Beach with Lucy. He’s a YouTuber as well, successful without the support of his parents, with a channel that favors the kind of harmless silliness, and gaming playthroughs Tobin was known for in high school. In fact, Lily (and Tobin’s parents) barely see that Tobin has grown up–though Lily knows he must be working hard with his high subscriber numbers. And, well, it seems like the universe is leading them into partnership, because each of them needs to diversify their subscriber base to build viewership that will support new and better projects.

Thing is, they are stinking cute together online with their longstanding acquaintance and their pranks-gone-rogue. It’s almost immediate that their fans are “shipping” them. And, well, they have both grown up very well–Tobin is lanky but built and Lily is a delicate-looking rose of a lasy. They have insane chemistry, both on and off camera. As they reconnect–and Lily begins to catch up with the Ponto Beach crowd she’d left behind following college–they each begine to wonder if a relationship is the right thing, for right now. Tobin had been getting burned out from filming before his collab with Lily, and he’s ready to settle down with such a fine, amazing woman–once he gets a bit of a mental break. Lilly, who has always been so prim, proper, and driven, begins to see that Tobin’s laizzes faire approach to Tubing might have merit she wouldn’t acknowledge, before. 

It’s a slow burn though, as they build a real and true love between them–and share a whole new beginning together. I liked that there was some different representation in this story, with Lily and Tobin being first-generation Asian Americans, who have a little more cosmopolitan view of the world. It looks like there will be another book in this series, which would be fun to read.

Interested? You can find LOVE, COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE on Goodreads and Amazon.

About the Author:

Cathy Yardley is an award-winning author of romance, chick lit, and urban fantasy, who has sold over 1.2 million copies of books for publishers like St. Martin’s, Avon, and Harlequin. She writes fun, geeky, and diverse characters who believe that underdogs can make good and sometimes being a little wrong is just right. She likes writing about quirky, crazy adventures, because she’s had plenty of her own: she had her own army in the Society of Creative Anachronism; she’s spent a New Year’s on a 3-day solitary vision quest in the Mojave Desert; she had VIP access to the Viper Room in Los Angeles. Now, she spends her time writing in the wilds of East Seattle, trying to prevent her son from learning the truth of any of said adventures, and riding herd on her two dogs (and one husband.)

Connect with Cathy on her Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or get her Newsletter list.